The Hanse and contemporary international law – A governance perspective

The paper will discuss if and how Hanse research and the study of international public law can engage in a fruitful dialogue and whether both disciplines could profit from closer cooperation. The paper discusses reasons for the neglect of the Hanse in the historiography of international law, why a dialogue between both research fields could be fruitful and possible methodological approaches to combine international legal research and Hanse history. Among other approaches, the paper will look at the advantages and disadvantages of studying Hanse cooperation using the conceptual framework of governance and employing a functional approach.